Favorite Semi Tractor?

Got to thinking the other day about all the semi tractors look the same to me when they fill up my rear view mirror. Just wondering what everyone's favorite is/was? They all seem the same to me as I can't hardly tell the difference between a Kenworth and Peterbuilt without looking for hood ornaments. They all seem to have those west coast hood visors covering half the windshield too. I used to see a lot of cab overs going down the interstate but not any more and don't know why. I'm not even sure what they use for transmissions anymore. I still have my CDL and if someone ask me to take one around the block, I'd probably take a while figuring out how to shift the darn things.

Back in the day I drove a couple Fords. Ford 8000 with a small cat motor and 13 speed road ranger. Favorite was a Ford 9000 with 350 cummins and 13 speed road ranger. Mainly did oilfield hauling moving rigs, pipe, pumping equipment, and tanks. Both had winches, gin poles, and rolling tailboards. That cummins would flat get with it even though is had a short shift range of 1500 to 2100 and never used a clutch except at stop signs. This was late 70's and the 9000 was geared for the new speed limit. Got 3 speeding tickets, all for 71 mph, and it didn't matter whether there was a load of drill pipe, empty float, or dead head as it was always pedal to the metal. On the interstate I could pull the hand throttle out for cruise control. Didn't really like the 8000 with the cat as it was underpowered and had too long of a revving range between gears. Also drove an old Mack 4 x 4 winch truck around the yards and drove an old long bed Autocar winch truck in the yard. Drove something with a 10 speed once. Then of course there are the farm trucks with the 2 speed axles and the button on the shifter handle.

Feedyard had an ltl9000 those fords look good but
crappy cabs and controls inside .

If they all look the same you need new mirrors.



Feedyard also had a kw cabover it was twice as nice
to drive as the dorf looked good too

The first truck I learned to drive was an old kenworth
with air assisted steering and a 5x4 transmission
later drove a couple other kw with 10 speeds and 4
speed auxiliary transmissions they were nice trucks
to drive

Myself being an oilfield guy, I naturally gravitate towards what I drove the most. I like the IH Paystar 5000, it had a way better suspension thats the 6 rod Autocars I drove. 330 wheelbase, it had the 350hp 855 Cummins in it and I later installed a 3406B at 425hp. 6&4 transmissions, and 4 winches. It would run 66 WOT. As far as looks, the long hood 359 Pete is my favorite.

I have bought sold and traded semi trucks (most were KW and Petes and Freightliner) in the past and like all others have my
favorites.

When I was a kid the first semi I rode in was a B Model Mack and I still think they are beautiful. A few years later I had
a thing for Autocars and Diamond T's and REO's I still have all my Wheel of Time Magazines

Probably as many opinions on this as brands of oil or spark plugs lol

NOT semis just a few of the many farm trucks Ive owned. BEFORE I upgraded and had newer nicer rollback implement trucks, I
in below zero temps drove the old ugly 48 Ford to Sikeston Missouri, Stilesville Indiana and Archbold Ohio and all over
Illinois auctions making a living as an implement dealer and farmer. Hey times were tough in the early seventies lol

John T

My favorite is and always has been
Mack,especially the old B model series.
With the duplex, triplex and quadraplex
transmissions. And to answer your question
on newer ones, most are automatic or
automated manual as they are referred to.
You can still get 10.13 and 18spd manual
shift, but they are little harder to find.

I've driven quite a few different ones. Mack, peterbuilt, Volvo,
International, and the last was a Kenworth. The International
with the Cummins was the most reliable and I should have
kept it. The Volvo and Kenworth were the best to drive and
ride. The volvo and International had the most pulling power.
The peterbuilt was the worst of the bunch. Took both hands
on the wheel at all times to keep it on the road. It was
inconvenient to get from the cab to sleeper and back. The cat
engine was gutless. The only good thing was it was purty.
The Mack's were decent trucks but not spectacular in any
way. Most had the 10 speed in them, the peterbuilt had an 18
speed and the Volvo had the 12 speed auto shift and the
Kenworth had a 10 spd auto shift. I liked the auto shifts a lot.

Drove Petes,IH,Ford, Volvo and KW,, all time FAV is still a KW conventional witha CAT and 5x4 twin stick,, cant stand a auto in a truck personally,, if I had to drive in citys all the time might feel different

Ive never driven one any worse than another unless one was beat to death Peterbilt doesnt make the steering gear or the engine about the only difference in any of em is the cabs they all use components built buy another company

That's not necessarily true, some like Volvo, Mack and freightliner have their own components or you can spec other brands for some things. Mack trucks all have Mack engines and you can get them with all Mack parts if you want. Same for Volvo. Freightliner owns some of the component companies so their trucks get those unless you spec something else. I don't know the names of those. Kenworth and peterbuilt are doing more of their own stuff now too.

In Europe, you seldom see a conventional cab, by far the majority are still cabovers. The short article below in the link explains the reasons ...... interesting stuff ......
Cabover vs Conventional truck designs explained ....

Driven a lot of different ones in the last
40 yrs. Not looks wise but the one I liked
the most as far as comfort. 82 or 83 Volvo
White, double sleeper. 400 Cummins and 13
Fuller. Rode nice, handled well and plenty
of power. Wasn't turned down. Would flat
out run dragging 50k in the trailer.

The best truck is one that goes from point A to point B without breaking down and the least driver fatigue.

I'm enjoying the K W I have been driving because it has air assist clutch.
Sure is a relief for my legs.

My company most likely is liking the International with auto trans we are getting now because of the 8 miles per gallon.

jon f mn are you saying you can not get any other engine in a Mack buy aMack?

Been trucking a long time, still some at 72years old. Pete 379 ex hood or KW W900. Best built trucks on the market. Preferably Cat power.

jon f mn let me rephrase that. Are you saying you could never get another engine in a Mack? As far as Volvo you can get a Cummins in certain new models.

I drive a 2020 Volvo. Best driving and driver friendly truck I've ever driven. Fully automatic, plenty of power, air assist tilt and telescoping steering wheel, air assist disconnect fifth wheel lock. Gotten as high as 9.3 mpg, and average 8.3 mpg for the month last summer. Sure beats the R model Macks I started on.

In the past you could order a Mack with other engines but I don't believe you can anymore. A few years ago you could still order a Volvo with a Cummins but I haven't seen one in years. Maybe you still can.

I'd have to say a Diamond-T. NOT a Diamond REO

Trucks i liked the best were the R model Macks the L line of Ford and the top of the list were the long nose transtar Binders the top of the list of ones i disliked were the GMC's the K W
s and Petes . I loved the R 700 Mack i ran hauling coal it was powered by a 318 Detroit with a 13 speed road ranger and would top out at 78 at 2450 Not that it ever saw that speed much and never loaded , Pulled a East 30x96x72 bucket with a lead air lift axle that by lifting it while loaded i could dump up to 30000 lbs onto the drives for traction . If i could shake a load loose and get into second gear it was coming out of mud or deep snow and never once ever had to have a helping hand coming up out of a strip cut with 40-45 ton in the box Coupled with them Armstrong drive lugs she was a tank . Then one day i drove a buddy's new I H 4200 with the same engine and trans set up and i was hooked on the binders . When i decided that it was time for me to become and O/O i i went truck shopping and i looked at the Mack's i looked at the K W's and Petes , looked at the L9000 and looked at the NEW 4300 I H eagles . I also wantd to get away from the Detroits and knew i did not want a Cat so i decided on Cummins as it was still a poor man's shade tree mechanic's engine So now it comes down to PRICE , I knew i wanted a Bunk house on the back for those winter days of Salt hauling when you got to a salt shed and the piler was not there and you might set and wait HOURS on them the napping over the steering wheel plum sucked and if you have never done this you do not know the meaning of true PAIN Well ya could get a new K W back then for 47500 out the door ready to work Pete was tryen hard to sell trucks and you could get one of them for 45500 out the door , The big Ford truck dealer in my area had a sharp L 9000 that they would put a bunk house on it and the wet line and upgrade the NTC 290 to a 350 for 44900 Then there was the as we called it the DOG pound , the local Mack dealer They had this sharp little R 600 with a 350 mack and a 13 speed with a bunk house already on it with polished alum. ft wheels and polished tanks BUT they wanted 56900 for it . The next stop was the BIG I H dealer and they had THE truck and i even liked the color BUT they were jerks would not even allow you to get up in it and set behind the wheel and they wanted 67800 . Told the salesman he was NUTS and told him what everybody else wanted and i would never darken his door again . On the way home i stopped by the little I H dealer here intown and he had the same truck as the big dealer had setting . it was a Thursday evening around five when i walked thru the door and asked Wild Bill HOW MUCH and he said have you driven and Eagel before i siad Nope just Big D's 4200 never a 4300 , He grabbed the keys off the board and handed me a dealer plate and said bring it back with some fuel left in it then we will talk. So i went for a LONG ride over every road in my area some smooth and some rough as a corn cob . THis truck rode like a baby buggy . I swung by a buddy's place and pulled in and like usual he was working on his two year old 9500 long nose as it was always breaking down . So he and i went out for another ride and he was driving now . It was getting on about 8:30 when he and i took it back to the dealer and he and i said at the same time HOW MUCH ready to work Mike wanted to trade the Lemon i was dealing straight . Mikes deal was 43500 and mine was 42500 then we had to decide who was going to take the first one . They were already speced to just what we wanted less the jake brake Mike took that one and i took the one that had not yet arrived Only color was different . i had to wait a week for mine to get there it came in Friday evening before labor day.

I believe up until early 2000's you could still get a non-Mack engine in a Mack. You can get a Cummins in some of the new Volvos now.

They all have their good and bad points. I make the most money with IH prostars and Lt's.

This is the 2015 Western Star 4900EX that I custom ordered in 2014, and sold a couple of years ago with 800,000 kilometers on the clock. 600 horsepower DD16 Detroit, 18 speed Roadranger, 46k Meritor rear axles, 244 inch wheelbase, 68 inch sleeper. I liked the truck itself, it was solid and drove well. I hated that engine though. In hindsight I wish I would've ordered that truck with a Cummins ISX instead of the DD16 Detroit, but so it goes. Only other big downfall with a Western Star is how heavy they are. My truck was a solid ton heavier than most other comparable spec trucks of other brands.

Was I to do the owner/operator thing again, it would be a tough choice. It would be between another Western Star 4900EX, a Peterbilt 389, and a Kenworth W900L. All with the Cummins X15, of course.

Mark ..... my son-in-law was a long distance driver here in North America and also in Europe and into parts of Asia and North Africa over the years. He no longer drives but he said Volvo's were always his go-to choice simply due to being the easiest to live with for driver comfort. He was always driving company trucks so mileage, maintenance and repairs weren't a big concern for him. I'm sure they are reputable in those categories as well.

Hauled a lot of salt with a 260 WW Brockway and I liked that truck OK a big gas engine with a flat head. my favorite from the old days was the LJ Mack. The one I drove had a 672 Lanova engine. Not much power but it put out a lot of smoke and made a lot of noise A well tuned F 8 Ford would out run it but we never admitted it. I retired off a Mack Vision with the autoshift the one with a clutch. The most loved truck. I drove a lot of B61 Macks with the 673 Thermodyne engine. I never liked the B 61 even when it was new. Made a couple trips in a 1953 650 GMC 4 banger Talk about something worthless But again it made a lot of smoke and a lot of noise. That was all it took to keep a new driver at 18 years old happy.

K100 KW cab over is my vote for sexiest
truck ever.

Currently own a 2012 Volvo. Volvo engine
and auto shift. Comfortable and handles
great. Absolutely gutless, but I knew that
before I bought it. That's why it was
cheap. Auto shift, any rookie can drive
it. Any one with experience can shift like
a rookie! Paid up to get the buttons that
let the driver shift, makes it tolerable.

Amen to that!

Vito

Those are good looking cow mobiles.

Vito

I am really partial to the looks of the T series KWs. I had an IH 5900i that I really liked. It had an 18 speed transmission that I found to be much easier shifting than an 8LL which I have driven a lot. Of course an automatic is the best especially if you have to start and stop a lot. Petercars used to be considered high class but now they are just plain COMMON. However, my current truck is my Petercar Fire Dept Tanker Truck. It is easy and comfortable to drive, and it gets up and goes pretty good. On the Cab-over question, as Crazy Horse said as soon as federal laws allowed everyone to get conventionals they did.

I guess I am older than most everyone on this site.

When I started driving truck across state lines I was 18 and fresh out of high school.
The first truck I drove was a GMC Cracker box with 12 speed Spicer transmission (only 3
positions with the gearshift and into neutral with each gear) pulling A Michigan train.
You get a truck driving education REAL QUICK.

In the late years I liked the Volvo's with the big Cummins or big Detroit.

Favourite Truck ? Optimus Prime .

I have driven KWs GMC White IH Fords Macks and Volvo's. Transmissions from 7spd to 13 double over and autoshift. Engines Detroit Cummins international Mack and Volvo. I
have to say my favorite is older Volvo WIA N14 550 Cummins 13 spd double over. Drove that truck 1,550,000 miles.

You can get a cummins is Volvo still, they offer the x15.

SV, that red ltl9000 used to belong to Michelle Cole from Smithville, Tx. She sold it to someone in Central Illinois.

I started driving truck in 1974 and my all time favorite has to be the IH 4070B cabover. I now own a 1964 IH Emeryville cabover. Like John T I have all my Wheels of Time magazines from when I joined the American Truck Historical Society in 1985.

(quoted from post at 18:17:12 03/06/21) I started driving truck in 1974 and my all time favorite has to be the IH 4070B cabover. I now own a 1964 IH Emeryville cabover. Like John T I have all my Wheels of Time magazines from when I joined the American Truck Historical Society in 1985.

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Cowboy, I have two friends who are brothers who are still hauling with IH COEs. In the last ten years I have probably not seen more than a half dozen on the roads here in NH and they have two of them.

(quoted from post at 18:22:38 03/06/21)

(quoted from post at 18:17:12 03/06/21) I started driving truck in 1974 and my all time favorite has to be the IH 4070B cabover. I now own a 1964 IH Emeryville cabover. Like John T I have all my Wheels of Time magazines from when I joined the American Truck Historical Society in 1985.

Click to expand...

Cowboy, I have two friends who are brothers who are still hauling with IH COEs. In the last ten years I have probably not seen more than a half dozen on the roads here in NH and they have two of them.

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eems like the cabovers are few and far between but I am starting to see a few around. When I started driving probably 75% of the trucks on the road were cabovers.

Always wanted a single axle B Model Mack.

Well all I can say is Wow. Never heard of Volvo trucks here in the states and now I read a bunch of you guys have them. Guess I'll have to look around more as most seem the same to me. When I'm passing them on the interstate I too worried about messing up their nice shiny paint jobs with a little prius paint.

See some Volvo excavators some and they are big in Europe. Are the Volvo trucks made here or there?

See some bargains on some old used truck tractors but they cost too much for tags and taxes just to decorate the driveway.

Just a few pictures I have came across and saved that reminded me of trucks from years ago. Still a lot of nice trucks out on the road, and when you see one, you know they take pride in what they are driving.

Also have me wondering that I don't see what we used to call west coast bumpers. They cut the bumper ends off so when they hit a deer it won't shove the bumper back into the tire and they just go on. Seen a lot of them in the 70's.

In the last few years the truck companies are making more and more of their own parts it seems like . But not 20 or 30 years ago

For style I like the B-Model Macks and the Long-nose Petes. For something I'd actually BUY (in my dreams), I've liked the short wheelbase IH COE 1600 series ever since I saw one at an international truck show that came to town years ago. Someone had one and it looked to be restored to original. I like the small footprint of something that still has a fifth wheel and it seems like it wouldn't take up too much space for a restoration or just to keep it around. Get a low-boy trailer to haul the tractor and you're in business!

Gerrit

I have two broken fingers on my left hand from
crawling in one of those stupid narrow cab Peterbilts
about a 90s model

Over the last 35 years or so I've driven about all of them from Macks to Pete's. Owned 4 different trucks a 377 Pete, old GMC/Volvo, CH613 Mack, and 379 Pete. The Makc spent more time in the hospital then on the road. The volvo had more electrical problems than were fixable. The Pete's I still have and drive the 379. Would like to get the 377 back on the road under a grain trailer or dump. Both are the best rucks I've owned. Both have cats in them to. The old hill sniffers were just that and fall flat on their face with a gofer hill to go over. Never liked the Cummins with the rubber drive shaft on most of them I drove. The Penske 60 series was still a gutless wonder when I was in one. Running up I77 in WV if you didn't cross the hollows about 75-80 it was dragging up the next hill. Sure was a dragon & fly truck. All had from 9 spds to 18spds with a couple of 2 sticks in a few. One had a 4 spd auto in it. Was nice for NYC or Chicago. Other wise was no big deal. When I bought the Pete I priced a Mack,Volvo,Freight shaker and The Pete the Pete was the cheapest with the most engine and trans. Has 3.55s with the 18and tall 24's specs at triple digit though I have never had it close to that. Both trucks have over a million miles on them. Will probably die with them.
Would like to find for a reasonable price a Pete 359 with the 3408 in it. Probably could not afford to fix it if it ever came to that though.

1998 Ford Aeromax...460 Cummins and 10 speed. Put 1.4 million miles on the truck before I in-framed the engine. No rattles and a great
ride.

I had a CO1610 I used for hauling an
excavator. A 1972 with a 345 gas in it. I
loved the look of them.

#3 is the rig from Movin on with Claude Akin. Beautiful machine. Loved that show when I was younger.

This is my favorite I ordered it 19 years ago and still driving it. Heavy spec, Cat engine

It's DROF, driver returned on foot.
Everything I've had has been a straight, never owned a fifth wheel. IHC, GMC, Ford, and presently a 1985 Volvo.
The Ford was the worst, shift linkage was worn out. Beautiful machine, but it was ready for pasture.
Those trucks are the blood supply of our nation. When the trucks stop we are in big trouble. Thanks to all of you who drive. We'd be lost without you.

Probably what I grew up around, W925 Kenworths. When
they shut down the trucking side of the business in the early
80s the lined them up in the yard and walked away. I bought
the 1973 ten years ago when they finally sold them. It is sitting
in the barn at the farm now. The other four or five that were
left were bought by one guy. He put batteries in them, started
them and drove them back to his yard.

Started out in a 71 IH 4070A cab over then purchased a 75 IH 4070 B, much nicer cab than the A had, We did a good bit of running thru Tn in the 70's and they had a 55' max length law then so conventional cabs with sleepers didn't work for us then.
In the 80's I switched to Fords when Tn eliminated their length law, drove LT's, LNT's, LTL's and CLT, 391 gas burners, 3208 Cat's, Big Cam Cummins and 3406 Cat's, Fords were good trucks and LTL's were my all time favorite but those Fords were heavy with their steel cabs and I didn't care for the Neway air ride they used. The CLT cabover with it's full air ride cab was the best riding truck I ever set in.
Drove a couple of Freightliners and hated everything about them
Drove a mid 80's White/GMC for a short time, rode good with the rear air ride on the cab but wouldn't turn around in a 50 acre field
Last two trucks I had were Pete's, 359 and 379, over all I liked the looks of the 359 best but the 379's larger cab gave for leg room for my 6'1" height, plus it turned much shorter for better maneuvering.
Drove a W900 KW for a few miles, I liked the roomy cab but couldn't see over the hood as well as I could on my Pete's.

Yep, watched that show when I was a kid too, the bad guys always drove cabovers. I must be a bad guy, this is what I haul grain and water with. 350 cummins and a 9 speed.